Rosemary writes:
We are expecting our first baby at the start of May 2010 and don’t plan to find out the gender in advance. We’ve sorted out a boy’s name, and thought we had worked out a girl’s name – Annalie Hazel Rouse. However we are now having second thoughts due to the issues raised here! Swistle Baby Names: Analeigh
“Emily” would be a good alternative, but that’s my new sister-in-law’s name and we also have a niece named Amelia. Sadly that rules out “Amelie” as well.
Another option might be Freya, but Freya Rouse seems like more of a mouthful than Annalie (could be I’m just not as used to it).
Olivia would be nice but as it is extremely popular here it is not an option – we do not want there to be another girl in her class with the same name.
We quite like “Ebony”.
Thanks for your help!
Addalie is very similar to Annalie but avoids the, um, issue. Natalie is another such choice.
Emmeline is similar to Emily but less common, and I think it’s particularly wonderful with your surname.
Ivory is similar to Ebony in that it reveals my ’80s-music childhood.
Abilene is a name I just saw in a book and thought “Hey!” Same rhythm as Annalie, and nice and unusual.
Here’s a name I’d never heard until I saw it in The Baby Name Wizard: Bellamy. So pretty, very similar to Emily, and with the nicknames Belle and Bella.
Some more possibilities:
Adelyn
Annika
Bethany
Briarley
Cecily
Ellery
Elodie
Everly
Harmony
Imogen
Lorelei
Meredith
Nadia
Philippa
Verity
Name update! Rosemary writes:
Just to let you know that Philip Tristan was born on 16 May, and that had he been a girl we would have chosen the name Leonie Hazel!
Thanks to everyone for all their suggestions! :)
Personally, I would avoid Annalie and other names quite similar.
I love Swistle’s suggestions of Addalie, Bellamy, and Verity. Verity is definitely old-fashioned, but I think it really works on a little girl and a grown up. She can go by Ver, Vera, or even Very/Veri.
Two more suggestions: Adelaide and Addeline.
I like Brynnlee… Annaliese, Avery, Ainslee, Caroline, Carys, Chesney… I could go on all day!
I love Freya! I don’t find it awkward with your last name. Ebony is also great, and I have a lot of positive associations that they make me like it even more. Emmeline is also beautifully solves all your An(n)alee issues while not overlapping with family member names too much. The Analeigh names, especially when with more of an Ana (AY-na) rather than Anna (AH-na) pronunciation, are really problematic for my accent.
Side note: Freya strikes me as very Scandinavian (or other Northern European), whereas in the areas I grew up Ebony was very much an African-American name. Both strike me as very upper-class names, they do so in a very different way. I’d be delighted to meet such a sibset, regardless of ethnic affiliation, but I do think it would cause some initial double-takes. Which isn’t a bad thing!
I grew up with a girl named annalee and none of our friends or schoolmates went down the anal road…to me it sounds like anna lee no problems.
I immediately thought of two wonderful names for you and now I see that they have already been suggested: Adelaide and Elodie.
I also like Freya a lot and don’t think it’s problematic with your last name.
Other possibilities: Amber, Annika, Grace, Maya, Miranda.
Good luck!
Elodie and Cecily are lovely, I like the -ee sounding ending with your surname. And they both go with Hazel.
I think Annalie is lovely! It doesn’t have the word actually contained in it the way other spellings of the name do, so it doesn’t seem any different from Anneliese, which seems to be growing in popularity. If you love it, I’d stick with it.
If you are finding yourself hearing the anal now that you know about it, though, I also love Freya. LOVE, love.
Some others that strike a similar chord and are also favorites:
Annika
Romilly (our dd’s name – I was on an “-ily” kick when we were naming her, hence the list to follow, which Annalie was also on for us)
Cecily
Coralie
Romanie
The variant I like best is Anneliese. Anneliese Hazel Rouse sounds lovely and very close to your original choice (you could even use Annalie as a nickname). Best of luck!
what about Analeine? the girl I knew with this name was actually mexican so it was pronounced “Ah-nah-lane”, so pretty! but you can alter the spelling (Analane/Annalane/Analayne), and the pronunciation works in many different languages . . . .
I also love Freya. Another name to consider that somehow ‘fits’ with other names you like: Alida (Ah-LEE-da).
My grandmother’s name is Alene, which sounds similar but is a bit more simple and non-anal sounding.
– Adele. It has not been in the top 1000 names in the US in the last decade. You have great nickname potential, either ‘Addy’, ‘Addie’, or Elle.
– Lilliana. I think this sounds great with your last name! It’s #412 right now.
I love Swistle’s suggestion of Lorelei. Again it goes great with your last name. NN’s include Rory, Lori, Lora. Plus it’s an interesting myth.
Please share your choices for your potential future son.
Sadly, as much as I love Annalie, the “issues” have ruined it for me. However, I love the flow and like the alternative of Everly. I tend to lean more toward traditional names, but it just would be so cute with a more feminine middle name. Everly Hazel Rouse. Everly Rouse. Evvie Rouse.
Anabel/Annabel Rouse is lovely. Or you could modify it to Hannalie…
For what it’s worth, I’ve known an Analee for my whole life and the “anal” thing NEVER came up. In fact, I didn’t even notice it until I saw Swistle’s entry about it. I honestly don’t think kids are smart enough to notice that to use it to tease until they’re past the teasing based on your name phase.
Annalie Hazel is a beautiful name. I actually aww’ed out loud when I first read it. I think if that’s the name you love, don’t worry about this “issue.”
How about just plain Anna? I really like that name. Or Annabelle, or Aine/Anya, or Ainsley?
So someone just posted about the name Annelie in the next entry. Does that little spelling alteration solve the problem? I assume the pronunciation is also a little different.
Annalie is such a great name! I think you ought to keep it. In the earlier post Swistle linked too, several commenters mentioned that in Sweden it’s spelled Anneli. Do you like that spelling? It maintains the pronunciation but having an E instead of A removes all connections to unpleasant words for me. You could also spell it Annelie if you like the E on the end.
Thanks for your help everyone! I posted this query quite a while ago and it’s interesting to see we’ve since come up with a somewhat similar girl’s name no-one has suggested yet – I’ll let you know once the baby’s born!
I like these names:
Bethany
Imogen (my cousin’s daughter’s name)
Meredith
Annaliese
In the meantime we’ve started to second guess our boy’s name, Philip, as although it is not excessively popular we have been coming across quite a few people with this name in our local region, including a recent birth notice. Interesting though that one of the girl’s name suggestions was Philippa!
P.S. I like the spelling Annelie.
Just to let you know that Philip Tristan was born on 16 May, and that had he been a girl we would have chosen the name Leonie Hazel!
Thanks to everyone for all their suggestions! :)